PC, £30.
Age 13+
Avast, me hearties: it's time to set sail and plunder once more. But you won't be taking on computer-generated characters. This ambitious piracy epic is a massive multiplayer online game (MMOG), so you cross swords with real players for as long as you cough up a monthly £7 fee. Set in the West Indies in the 1700s, the game blends tactical naval combat with exploration and trading. You are the captain of a ship, fighting for France, Spain or Britain, which are vying to dominate the New World, or as a pirate - you choose which. You also decide whether to be a naval officer, privateer or free trader, which determines your vessel and who you fight. Teamwork is encouraged to ensure that, for instance, key ports don't fall into enemy hands, and few other MMOGs emphasise strategy so much. While the ship combat is pretty (albeit no better than in older Pirate games) the land-based environment is archaic and hand-to-hand combat remains functional at best. Yet despite these flaws, the iffy graphics and occasionally dodgy controls, Pirates of the Burning Sea is compelling fun for any armchair admiral.